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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Enzo's wife?

2. What does Giovanna's father especially like about her appearance?

3. What does the priest Vittoria knows say about Roberto?

4. How many children did Enzo have?

5. What is one thing that strikes Giovanna as odd about the fight she hears about that her father and Mariano have in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the reasons Giovanna's parents tell her to explain the rift between them and Vittoria?

2. What do Giovanna and Angela frequently do that makes Ida feel left out when all three girls sleep over together?

3. What does Giovanna realize her father Andrea is very attached to for the first time in Part II?

4. Why does Giovanna begin pestering her friends Angela and Ida about their opinions of her appearance?

5. What is one major source of tension between Giovanna and her parents in Part I?

6. What does Giovanna witness between her mother, Nella, and Mariano one night that shocks her in Part II?

7. What kind of relationship does Vittoria have with Enzo's widow and children?

8. What does Giovanna think of Mariano, her father's closest friend?

9. What does Vittoria implore Giovanna to do regarding her parents in Part II?

10. What does Giovanna discover in her parents' photo albums?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Giovanna's attitude towards her mother change over the course of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think Giovanna becomes so obsessed with Roberto? What kinds of uncomfortable parallels does Giovanna eventually begin to draw between Roberto and other men in her life? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What does Giovanna notice is different about her father's attitudes towards the family he grew up in - towards his siblings and his parents - than almost everyone else she knows in Naples? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your findings.

(see the answer keys)

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